1/2 c Plus 2 tbsp clour
2 1/2 tb Cocoa powder (preferably
-Dutch process)
3/4 ts Baking soda
1/4 ts Salt
1/2 c Sugar
1/2 c Water
3 tb Vegetable oil
1 1/2 ts Distilled white vinegar
1 ts Vanilla extract
FILLING
1 c Heavy whipping cream
6 oz Finely chopped white
-chocolate
GLAZE
3 oz Finely chopped bittersweet
-chocolate
3 tb Boiling water
ICING
1 tb Egg white, at room
-temperature
1 pn Of cream of tartar
1/2 c Plus 2 to 3 tbsp
-confectioner’s sugar
These ultra-moist, dark chocolate mini-cupcakes are
filled with creamy white chocolate ganache. They’re a
variation on a whimsical cupcake that Michael Roberts
serves at Los Angeles’s Trumps restaurant at teatime.
CUPCAKES
Make the cupcakes:
1. Position a rack in the center and preheat oven to
325?F. Lightly butter twenty-four 1-3/4″ x 3/4″ (1-oz)
muffin of biscuit cups.
2. Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa,
baking soda, and salt. Mix in the sugar. Make a well
in the center. Whisk in the water, oil, vinegar, and
vanilla. Blend until smooth. (The batter will be very
thin.)
3. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups. Bake until
a cake tester inserted into the center of one of the
cupcakes comes out clean, about 12 to 14 minutes. Cool
the cupcakes in the pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
Remove the cupcakes from the pans and finish cooling
on the rack.
Make the filling:
4. In a heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat,
bring the cream to a boil. Add the white chocolate and
remove from heat. let the mixture stand briefly; stir
until smooth. Transfer to a metal bowl and refrigerate
until chilled thoroughly, stirring occasionally. (To
speed the process, set the metal bowl over a larger
bowl of ice water; stir the chocolate mixture until
cool.) With an electric mixer, beat the whit chocolate
mixture just until fluffy, about 1 minute.
5. Transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a
3/8-inch plain tip. Insert the pastry tip 1/4-inch
into the bottom of each cupcake and squeeze a little
filling into each one.
Make the glaze:
6. Place the chocolate in a small bowl. Whisk in the
boiling water and blend until smooth. One at a time,
dip the top of each cupcake into the warm glaze. Turn
the glazed cupcakes right side up and set them on a
wire rack on top of a baking sheet. Refrigerate the
cupcakes for 5 minutes to set the glaze.
Make the icing:
7. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg white until frothy.
Stir in the cream of tartar. Gradually mix in enough
of the confectioner’s sugar to make a fairly stiff and
smooth icing. Fill a small paper cone with the icing
and cut a 1/16-inch opening at the tip. Remove the
cupcakes from the refrigerator. Pipe a design (a
squiggle, spiral, etc.) on the top of each cupcake.
Let the design harden and then cover and refrigerate
the cupcakes. Serve at room temperature.
The cupcakes can be made and refrigerated up to 2 days
in advance, or frozen up to 2 weeks.
Makes 22 to 24 miniature cupcakes.
Yields
22 Servings